Update: Spider-Man to Meet The Lizard in Next Film

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Update: Yesterday it was announced that Rhys Ifans had been cast as the bad guy in the upcoming Spider-Man reboot, today comes word that the villain in question is The Lizard, aka Dr. Curt Connors, according to The Wrap, but there's been no confirmation from the studio. Dylan Baker played Dr. Connors, Peter Parker's physics professor, in "Spider-Man 3."

Rhys Ifans has been cast to do battle with your friendly neighborhood wall-crawler in the next "Spider-Man," but the identity of the villain he'll play remains to be seen.

“We have been very fortunate to attract some of the best actors working today to play the villains in the Spider-Man movies, and it is exciting to see that trend continue with Rhys Ifans," said Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chair Peter Tolamch via a press release. "After seeing his performance in our upcoming film 'Anonymous,' we’re in awe of his talent and think he’s the perfect choice to take on this role.”

Annoyingly, Sony declined to announce which villain Ifans will play, thereby subjecting us and you to more speculation on the subject.

“What sets the Spider-Man villains apart is the complexity of their relationships with Peter Parker. Rhys' incredible ability to embody both warmth and rage makes him the ideal choice for this character," added director Marc Webb in hailing Ifans' casting.

With Emma Stone playing Gwen Stacy, it would make sense for the Green Goblin to appear in the new film, but there's been lots of talk that Venom will be the one Spidey next faces off with.

The choice of Ifans continues a trend at Sony of casting actors based largely on work in other film they've done for the studio. Andrew Garfield was cast as Spider-Man thanks largely to his work in "The Social Network" and co-star Emma Stone got the role of Gwen Stacy following her turn in "Easy A."